Our Story

Moana Impact Studio was born out of a deep commitment to people, places, and possibilities.

WHO WE ARE

Moana Impact Studio is a Pacific-led social enterprise that centres culture and community to create meaningful systems change. Founded by Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei and Bronwyn Williams, we bring over two decades of experience across education, government, philanthropy, and grassroots communities to every engagement.

We are a bridge: between systems and cultures, institutions and communities, aspiration and action.

HOW WE WORK

We bring cultural intelligence, evidence-based design, and deep relational understanding to every engagement — helping organisations move from good intentions to sustained, measurable impact. While we are Pacific-led, our expertise spans cultural diversity, inclusion, and equity more broadly.

As a founding commitment, we reinvest a minimum of 20% of revenue into Pacific communities through the Ako Moana Foundation. When you work with us, your investment goes further than the project.

WHO WE WORK WITH

We are intentional about our partnerships. We work best alongside organisations ready for culturally grounded expertise rather than a tick-box solution, including:

  • Universities and higher education institutions

  • Government agencies and local councils

  • Philanthropic foundations and grant-making bodies

  • Pacific and multicultural community organisations

  • Schools and education providers

  • Corporate organisations with genuine equity commitments

If your organisation is working to embed genuine cultural inclusion and equity practice, we welcome a conversation, regardless of where you are starting from.

  • We embed equity and inclusion across all areas of our work. This means creating culturally safe spaces, elevating under-represented voices and designing strategies that address structural barriers. Our approach is informed by lived experience and anchored in Pacific ways of knowing, including relational accountability, collective wellbeing and respectful engagement. We work with organisations ready to move beyond performative commitments toward sustained, measurable equity outcomes.

  • Moana Impact Studio exists to address systemic injustices affecting Pacific and other marginalised communities. We partner with universities, government, community organisations and philanthropy to design initiatives that create access, belonging and leadership pathways. A portion of our revenue is reinvested into community-centred programs that expand educational access and leadership opportunities for Pacific learners and leaders, ensuring impact is both measurable and meaningful.

  • We recognise that climate change disproportionately impacts Pacific peoples and that environmental justice is inseparable from social justice. Climate equity informs our advisory work, strategy design and leadership development. We support organisations to embed sustainability and community voice into governance and practice. Our own operations reflect responsible practices, including ethical procurement and low-impact delivery approaches where possible. We are guided by Pacific stewardship values that emphasise intergenerational responsibility, reciprocity and collective wellbeing.

Our Team

Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei

  • Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei, Founder & Principal Consultant.

    Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei is a Sāmoan educator, strategist and nationally recognised equity leader in Australian higher education. With over a decade of experience designing and delivering university-wide equity strategy at UTS, she has led the development, implementation and evaluation of flagship initiatives that expand access, participation and belonging for students and staff.

    Her work includes shaping the UTS Humanitarian Scholarship Program, leading the design of the UTS Indigenous Outreach Strategy, advancing Pacific student success initiatives, and co-designing UTS’s first Women in IT Leadership Mentoring Program. Across her roles, Amanda has worked at the intersection of policy, community engagement and institutional reform, influencing strategy and practice beyond a single portfolio.

    Amanda is the Founder of the Australian Pasifika Educators Network, a national network connecting Pasifika educators across Australia, a founding member of the UTS Multicultural Women’s Network, and Executive Lead, Pacific for Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia. Her leadership is grounded in relational values and Indigenous knowledge frameworks, and is driven by a commitment to justice, representation and structural transformation across the higher education sector.

Bronwyn Williams

  • Bronwyn Williams, Founder & Principal Consultant.

    Bronwyn Williams is a proud Niuean and Cook Islands woman, born in Aotearoa and based in Western Sydney. With over 20 years’ experience in higher education across New Zealand and Australia, she brings deep expertise in widening participation, community engagement, and program design that centres equity and access for underrepresented students.

    Currently a Senior Project Officer at Western Sydney University, Bronwyn has led major outreach and transition initiatives, including Fast Forward, First Foot Forward, Refugee and New and Emerging Communities, and the nationally recognised Pasifika Achievement To Higher Education (PATHE) program. She is also a Founding Director of the Australian Pasifika Educators Network (APEN), where she co-leads national advocacy and professional development for Pasifika educators and students.

    Bronwyn is passionate about creating culturally safe, strengths-based spaces that inspire Pacific young people to thrive in education and life. As Principal Consultant at Moana Impact Studio, she brings strategic insight, facilitation expertise, and a deep commitment to impact-driven work grounded in culture and community.

    She holds a BA, MA (Hons), and MLit from the University of Auckland, and is currently completing a PhD in Education at Western Sydney University.

  • Amanda’s research interests centre on Pacific, Pasifika, and First Nations peoples, student success, equity in higher education, and culturally responsive and sustaining practice. She is particularly focused on understanding and addressing the structural barriers facing Indigenous and Pacific learners in accessing and succeeding in university, and amplifying community-driven narratives of aspiration, resilience, and transformation.

    Her work is grounded in anti-racist, decolonial, and community-engaged approaches, with a strong commitment to Indigenous and Pacific research methodologies. Amanda is passionate about writing and reshaping the narrative landscape for underrepresented communities in Australian education.

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    PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

    Moors-Mailei, A., Williams, B., & Natapu-Ponton, V. (2025). Beyond metrics: : Centring Indigenous Knowledges in higher education equity evaluation. Access: Critical Explorations of Equity in Higher Education, 13(1), 12–29. Retrieved from https://novaojs.newcastle.edu.au/ceehe/index.php/iswp/article/view/232

    Lederman, O., Moors-Mailei, A., Peacock, Y., McKeon, G., Llana, A., Burns, D., Rosenbaum, S., & Caperchione, C. M. (2025). Developing a co-designed, culturally responsive physical activity program for Pasifika communities in Western Sydney, Australia. Health Promotion International. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daae197

    Barber, T., Netherton, C., Bettles, A., & Moors-Mailei, A. (2015). Navigating VET to university: Students’ perceptions of their transition to university study.Student Success, 6(2), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.5204/ssj.v6i2.289

    REPORTS

    Pasifika Communities in Australia: 2021 Census(2023)
    https://doi.org/10.26183/9QBB-CY24
    Contributors: Gabriella Gerace, Rhonda Itaoui, Tofa Amanda Moors-Mailei, Bronwyn Williams, Paniani Patu, Vaoiva Natapu-Ponton

    RESEARCH GRANTS & FUNDED PROJECTS

    What We Don’t Know, Will Hurt Us – An Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk Among Pasifika Communities in Western Sydney (Apr 2025 – Sep 2026)
    Funder: UTS Collaboration Seed Grant
    Lead: Oscar Lederman | Co-investigator: Tasi Tevaga A, Goode E, Moors-Mailei A, Peacock, Y.
    A health equity project evaluating cardiovascular risks and community-led prevention strategies for Pasifika communities.

    Say Our Names (Mar 2024 – Dec 2024)
    Funder: UTS Strategic Collaboration Seed Funding
    Lead: Dr Zozan Balci | Co-investigator: Dr Elaine Laforteza, Amanda Moors-Mailei, Lucia Bautista, Rodrigo Perez Toledo.

    WORKSHOPS

    Moors-Mailei. A, Williams. B, Patu. P. Natapu-Ponto. V (2025). Balancing Worlds – Navigating Pacific Wellbeing and Cultural Integrity within Australian, Higher Education, Access & Geopolitics, University of Oxford.

    Moors-Mailei, A., Williams, B., & Patu, P. (2025). Reimagining support for Pacific education: Examining the Australian Universities Accord and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) frameworks [Workshop presentation]. Australian Association for Pacific Studies Conference 2025: Pacific Discourses and Destinies, University of Sydney, Australia.

    Moors-Mailei, A. (2022). Pasifika Folauga (journey): Re-imagining and designing a Collective Action Plan for Pasifika education, learners and community in Australia. Presentation at the Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Australasia (EPHEA) Conference.

    NEWS ARTICLES

    Moors-Mailei, A. (2020). It’s not enough to be ‘not-racist’.Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion Newsroom, UTS.

    Moors-Mailei, A. (2019). Equal access to higher education for refugee students. Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion Newsroom, UTS.

    FORTHCOMING

    Moors-Mailei., Williams, B., Natapu-Ponton, V., & Patu, P (2026, in-process). Balancing Worlds - Navigating Pacific Wellbeing and Cultural Integrity within Australian Higher Education, in Faleolo, R., Enari, D., 'Ilaiu Talei, C., & Manuela, S (Eds.) Pacific Paradigms and Wellbeing Practices in Australia. Springer Nature

  • Amanda and Bronwyn are united by a deep commitment to educational justice and a shared belief in the power of culturally grounded, community-led change.

    Amanda’s work is driven by her passion for creating equitable and sustaining pathways for Indigenous and Pacific learners, ensuring their voices are seen, heard, and valued within the higher education system. In 2017, she designed the UTS Humanitarian Scholarship Program, growing it from just two students to over 100 on full tuition scholarships. The program is now recognised as a national model for refugee and humanitarian access and success in higher education.

    Amanda also led the establishment of UTS Pacific Programs and Initiatives from co-founding the first UTS Pasifika Society in 2013 to laying the groundwork for more than 50 Pacific students to commence undergraduate study in 2026 through the U@Uni Academy. These co-designed campus and community-based programs have positioned UTS as a university of choice for Pacific learners and families. She now leads the development of a whole-of-university UTS Pacific Strategy to deepen engagement with Pacific communities across Australia and the region.

    Bronwyn brings over 14 years of experience in higher education, with a focus on access, widening participation, and culturally responsive outreach. As a long-time leader at Western Sydney University, she has designed and delivered some of the institution’s most impactful student equity programs. These include Fast Forward, First Foot Forward, and the Pasifika Achievement To Higher Education (PATHE) program, one of the first initiatives of its kind in the country to focus specifically on Pacific student success.

    Through PATHE, Bronwyn has built strong relationships with students, families, and community organisations, transforming aspirations into action. Her leadership has not only shaped equity strategy at WSU but has also led to the founding of the Australian Universities Pasifika Associations Conference (AUPAC) in 2018, a national platform for Pacific student voice and leadership.

    Together, Amanda and Bronwyn are the Co-Founders of the Australian Pasifika Educators Network (APEN), where they co-lead national advocacy and professional learning for educators and leaders across the sector. Their work, spanning schools, universities, community, and policy, is rooted in cultural knowledge, lived experience, and a belief in the collective power of Pacific people to shape systems that reflect and uplift who they are.

    Highlights

    • Co-Founders of the Australian Pasifika Educators Network (APEN)

    • Cultural Competency Workshops for schools and institutions

    • Strategic Leads in Indigenous and Pacific student outreach and engagement

    • Designers of national and regional equity and access initiatives

    • Public speakers and panellists on equity, race, education, leadership, and cultural change

Thinking about working with us?
Check out our FAQ page for answers to common questions about our approach, pricing, and ways we can collaborate.

“Solesolevaki sa itakele ni duavata.”

Solidarity is the cornerstone of unity.

- Fijian Proverb -